We all know my stance on Christianity, right? Although I was raised Roman Catholic, I am not religious, and I think it is irresponsible and childish to believe in an all-powerful entity that has a personal relationship with everyone. Harold Bloom is a prolific writer and critic. In the book Jesus and Yahweh, Bloom explores the characterizations of three characters from the Bible. These are Yeshua of Nazareth, Jesus Christ the Theological God, and Yahweh, the God who shows human traits. In this text, Bloom argues that Yeshua, Jesus Christ, and Yahweh are incompatible with one another. In personality and in how they are characterized, they do not meld together into one being.

Bloom begins his study by stating eight preliminary musings that will help you through. First off, the New Testament generally follows the Old Testament except when it comes to Jesus’ aphorisms, wise sayings, and parables. Second, Jesus had an internal monologue that eventually allowed for the development of Shakespeare’s characters like Falstaff and Hamlet. Third, the Jesus Christ present in Mark’s Gospel is probably the closest to the original Yeshua, Matthew softens Mark, Luke makes a strange tangent and has more of a darkness to his Jesus. Fourth, the historical Jesus existed, but it is impossible to glean his entire personality from the Bible considering how fragmented it is. Modern Christianity is no better, making a Jesus for everyone. He is an empty shell, a faceless husk that becomes what the reader or believer wants. Fifth, the Gospels were not intended to be a Biography, but rather a sort of tract to make people convert. Sixth, people have searched for a Historical Jesus, but again, no one has been successful in finding him, instead finding their own biases and beliefs at the end. Seventh, the relationship between Love and the Law was central to Jesus and his ministry. Paul is the one who popularized his teachings with the non-Jew, Jesus did not feel it necessary to extend to them apparently. Finally, the Old Testament is better since Yahweh is more interesting as a character.

Bloom begins his exploration by discussing what is agreed upon by scholars, turning first to Jesus. For instance, it is generally thought that the same author wrote The Acts of the Apostles and The Gospel According to St Luke. This is due to the similar writing styles. There are a number of revelations in this book that are quite interesting. Bloom offers his opinion on a number of writings and works of other authors. So although some of this information is stuff I have heard before, this is all presented in an accessible manner. Even things I never scrutinized before, like the order of books in the Bible are discussed at length. I know that there are non-canonical texts that were not included in the Bible for some reason, but I am not a scholar and don’t know the whys and wherefores. Mark’s Gospel is the oldest of the four, but it is not the oldest extant piece of writing on the early Christians. The oldest pieces of writing we have are from Paul of Tarsus with his letters. Surprisingly, while Mark’s Gospel is the most original of the four it is thought that it was based on an earlier work that is now lost. Yeshua and Jesus are also explored through the lens of St John’s Gospel and through the story of how the Trinity came to be a thing. In the sense of the Trinity, it is argued that Christianity is not monotheistic, but rather polytheistic and it is difficult to argue against this. So some Greek Church Fathers came up with a counter-argument to all of this. This mainly relies on saying that our minds cannot grasp the truth, but it is better than the 'take it or leave it' stance of Augustine.

With the opening of the second part of this book, we focus on Yahweh. There is no way to know how to actually pronounce his name since it was a closely guarded secret in the Oral Tradition. Most of Bloom’s coverage involves the Old Testament since that is where Yahweh is focused. It discusses his name being sacred and how he was more often referred to as Adonai or Elohim, which makes sense to me. It goes in depth into Yahweh’s covenant, discussing his powers and separation from us.

Anyway, this book is enthralling. I found it to be enjoyable and interesting all at once. Unfortunately, I usually read books I enjoy so this does lose a bit in being a review. ( )

I am a big fan of Harold Bloom's 'Book of J' in addition to this book 'Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine'. I find it fascinating when the sacred writings of the three monotheistic religions are analyzed as works of literature. Some of Bloom's conclusions regarding the Christian Bible (e.g. Yahweh is essentially a literary Man-God who had to be redacted; Jesus and Jesus Christ are two different literary characters) must be reconciled with the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, in my opinion. Throughout this book, Bloom honestly presents his beliefs and biases so that the reader may deduce the effects of these biases on his conclusions. It is somehow reassuring to this Protestant that Bloom's favorite literary characters are Yahweh, Jesus, and Hamlet. ( )

Harold Bloom, docente all'Università di Yale, considerato il più celebre e influente critico letterario americano, introducendo il suo libro «Gesù e Yahvè. La frattura originaria tra Ebraismo e Cristianesimo», pubblicato da Rizzoli nella traduzione di Daniele Didero, scrive che la sua ricerca è centrata su tre figure: «un personaggio più o meno storico, Yeshua di Nazareth; un Dio teologico, Gesù Cristo; e un Dio umano, troppo umano, Yahvè. Una simile frase d'apertura suonerà inevitabilmente polemica, la mia speranza, tuttavia, è soltanto quella di contribuire a mettere meglio in luce alcuni aspetti della questione (se ciò mi sarà possibile), mentre non è mio intento offendere nessuno».

Le fonti che tramandano la memoria di Yeshua sono tendenziose, osserva Bloom, studioso di formazione ebraica che tuttavia non si riconosce nel giudaismo normativo. E sono il Nuovo Testamento o scritti allineati oppure eretici. Testi tendenziosi perché il «loro scopo è palesemente quello di convertire i lettori (o gli uditori)». E precisa, inoltre, che scrivendo di Yeshua come di un personaggio «più o meno storico», intende affermare che «quasi tutti gli elementi veramente importanti che lo riguardano possono essere appresi esclusivamente da testi a cui non è possibile concedere piena fiducia. Le ricerche sul “Gesù storico”, anche quando vengono condotte dagli studiosi più autorevoli e attenti, finiscono invariabilmente per fallire. I ricercatori, per quanto scrupolosi siano, trovano soltanto se stessi, e non lo sfuggente e inafferrabile Yeshua, enigma degli enigmi».

Harold Bloom, nella sua lunga carriera di affermato critico letterario ha spesso trattato temi religiosi, accostandosi più volte alla sapienza degli scritti biblici. In questo suo ultimo lavoro conduce un confronto tra le due figure divine che stanno alla base dell'ebraismo e del cristianesimo.

«In tutto il Nuovo Testamento non c'è nemmeno una frase concernente Gesù che sia stata scritta da qualcuno che abbia mai incontrato direttamente il riluttante re dei giudei», annota ancora. E sottolinea le incoerenze e le contraddizioni disseminate da un capo all'altro dei Vangeli. Inoltre esamina la figura di Jahvè, che ritiene abbia più tratti in comune con il Gesù di Marco che non con il Dio Padre dei cristiani e delle tradizioni rabbiniche ebraiche di età posteriore. Sostiene pure che la Bibbia ebraica dei giudei e il Vecchio Testamento dei cristiani sono due libri profondamente diversi, scritti con propositi – politici oltre che religiosi – molto differenti.

In un tempo in cui la religione è venuta a occupare un posto centrale nella nostra vita sociale e politica, la provocatoria conclusione di Bloom, secondo la quale non esiste una tradizione giudaico-cristiana – poiché le storie, gli dei e persino i testi sacri degli ebrei e dei cristiani sono tra loro incompatibili – induce a rivedere tutto ciò che era ritenuto un patrimonio comune alle due fedi.

This a provocative book. Bloom wants to look at Jesus and Yahweh, as lieterature personalities of the New and Old Testaments. The results are inconsistnt, but worth reading to see a different cast on the divine. Bloom is not sure of many theologians, but does quote extensively from some of them. He does dismiss Northrop Frye, who also took on a literary analysis in a typological way. But he admires the "biographies" of God and Jesus done by Jack Miles. He admires the Gospel of John, but is angry with the anti-semticism of The Gospel of John. He admires the inscrutability and personality of the Hebrew Scripture Yahweh, who is primarily the J God. So, this is a book to tackle with reservations. ( )

Bloom (The Book of J) here tackles the characters of the Jewish and Christian gods: what god do we meet in Hebrew Scripture? Who is the Jesus of the New Testament, and does he bear any relation to the Jesus most Americans worship? Does, for that matter, the Hebrew Yahweh resemble the first person of contemporary Christians' Trinity? Bloom, as usual, skewers quite a few sacred cows: for example, he dismisses the quest for the historical Jesus as a waste of time, and says that Jewish-Christian dialogue is a "farce." Bloom's major points include his assertion that the Christian reading of Hebrew Scripture laid the groundwork for Christian anti-Semitism. and a nuanced discussion of the different ways Matthew, Mark and Luke present Jesus, his assertion that Bible translator William Tyndale anticipated Shakespeare, and his observation that, contra Marx, religion is not the opiate of the people but their "poetry, both bad and good."